Taxpayers have just plowed $2.5 million into the Art Gallery of Windsor as part of a planned new cultural hub next to the aquatic centre.

It’s the long-awaited, much-heralded development of Windsor’s so-called western super anchor, part of the revitalization of the city’s core.

And it’s surrounded by four prime riverfront properties, all vacant.

Two, on Riverside Drive at Janette Avenue, one block from the art gallery, are an unsightly mess of broken asphalt and weeds. A third, on Riverside at Bruce, west of the art gallery and across from the aquatic centre, is used as a parking lot. The fourth, east of the art gallery and also across from the aquatic centre, lies in the shadow of a massive and monolithic grey wall. It was an eyesore when it was an infamous pit owned by developer Bill Docherty, and it’s not much better now.

When London developer Shmuel Farhi gobbled up these properties starting in 2006, he was proclaimed a visionary and a major player in developing downtown. His purchase of the properties was seen as part of a swing in momentum in the core. Someone was interested in investing here, someone with a track record.

When he acquired the land west of the art gallery in 2006, Farhi said he was planning a “first-class” condominium overlooking the river, with retail on the first floor.

“The building next to the art gallery is going to warrant a first-class facility,” he told The Star. “I am not building anything unless it is first class.”

He was anxious to develop, it was said. He had ideas and was already looking at potential tenants.

Three years later, when he said he would be announcing more plans for downtown, Farhi cited Windsor’s unparalleled location, with an attractive setting on the river, next to the U.S., with instant access to millions of people. He was impressed with St. Clair College’s move downtown and the hundreds of students coming to the core. With the city and the global economy poised to recover, he cited “once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”

“We are … moving forward with our plan to develop the unique part of the city,” he said when he bought the properties at Janette. “This is part of a much larger plan and purchase.”

He wasn’t planning some “coffee shop,” he said. “I come there to build and transform this great city that was hit so hard by the economic meltdown.”

And he wanted to do it “sooner rather than later.”

So what’s happening?

Farhi, who also owns the parking garage on Pitt Street east of the bus station and the City Centre Mall office building across the street, still vows he’s not building a “coffee shop,” he told me in an interview. He’s going to build something “that’s going to be a wow,” he said, something that will “make an impact for the future.”

Now he’d like to build something for government or the college or university, he said. He suggested a student residence with classrooms on the first floor.

He’d still like to building something “yesterday rather than tomorrow,” he said.

He still says Windsor is a “very interesting city” with “interesting opportunities.” He again credited city council for re-inventing Windsor by bringing not only the college but now the University of Windsor downtown.

He promised that a long overdue makeover of the crumbling parking garage, announced when he bought it in 2010, will begin within 30 days.He said he is now renovating the nearly vacant City Centre Mall, also purchased in 2010.

But when will he build?

“We have to see when the time comes and Windsor is ready for this development,” he said. “If the market needs a large development, we will step in and do something.”

“We were excited when those properties changed hands,” Coun. Fulvio Valentinis, who represents the area, said of the vacant lots, “because we were hoping it would spur some development, you know, in the very near future. They are prime pieces of property. There has been significant development downtown. Now is the time to move on those.”

He would like apartments or condominiums, he said. We have a “million-dollar” view and a promenade along the river with a “phenomenal green ribbon,” he said. The core needs residents, he said, to draw more services, create a lively community and boost nearby neighbourhoods.

What no one wants is vacant lots, he said.

“When you see activity, see development, it’s a positive sign that people have faith in the area, people are prepared to invest,” he said. “The flip side is if you just see a vacant piece of property for the longest time, it’s not necessarily a positive message. I would much rather see something moving there than see it just sort of languish in a state of nothingness.”

“It would be nice if he moved forward and did some of the plans promised,” Larry Horwitz, chairman of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, said of Farhi. “What’s put in front of the aquatic centre would have a huge impact on the aquatic centre. It could affect how attractive an area it becomes. Certainly the way it is isn’t the way to keep it.”

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